UNICEF Rushes Relief To Quake Victims In China

UNICEF rushes emergency relief to quake victims in
China

18 May 2008 - The United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF) is rushing to send emergency relief
supplies to the centre of China's Sichuan province, the area
most devastated by last Monday's catastrophic
earthquake.

The first aid, comprising 1,000 tents, 15,000
blankets and 60,000 school kits, are expected to arrive in
quake-affected areas over the next 24 hours, UNICEF reported
today from Beijing, with medicines, water, sanitation
materials and health equipment to follow soon after.

Yin
Yin Nwe, UNICEF Representative in China, said the agency
staff were doing their utmost to help Chinese authorities to
care for and protect children affected by the massive
temblor.

"It is truly encouraging to see how the whole
country has rallied in support of the Government's relief
response," Dr. Nwe said, adding that the relief situation
had become critical.

"We need to move as fast as possible,
with no delays, to speed life-saving medicines,
vaccinations, water purification tablets, oral rehydration
salts, obstetrics and surgical kits, water containers and
the like. Families trying to cope will require basic
materials like collapsible water containers, soap [and]
tarpaulins to survive after losing everything."

The UN
World Health Organization (WHO) has stressed that preventing
outbreaks of communicable diseases has become the key public
health issue, and it is working closely with the national
health ministry to offer aid, supplies and guidance.

"The
main needs now are water, sanitation and food," said WHO's
Representative to China, Hans Troedsson. "Ensuring supply of
food and safe drinking water and trying to restore good
sanitation are critical because these are the basic
transmission routes for communicable
diseases."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced in a
statement on Friday that up to $7 million will be released
from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support
UN relief efforts.

State media reports that the official
death toll has risen to 28,881, with some 14,000 others
still trapped under debris and rubble and more than 198,000
others injured. An estimated 3.3 million homes have been
destroyed and 15.6 million others have been partially
damaged.

The quake measured 7.8 on the Richter scale when
it struck south-western China on Monday afternoon, just
before 2:30 local time. At least 4,400 aftershocks have
since been recorded, including 146 measuring 4 or higher on
the Richter scale.

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